


Cookies and Hot Cocoa

by wonderfulmax90



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Charlie is Ace, I don't know if this counts as a / fic, M/M, Neville is nonbinary, both men are of age!!!!!!, mentions of the rest of the Weasley family - Freeform, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27982971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonderfulmax90/pseuds/wonderfulmax90
Summary: Neville and Charlie discuss everything from dragons to family to Charlie's own aromanticism.
Relationships: Charlie Weasley & Neville Longbottom, Charlie Weasley/Neville Longbottom
Comments: 7
Kudos: 14





	Cookies and Hot Cocoa

“I baked Christmas cookies!” Molly squeezed inbetween Charlie and Bill. A wide smile on her face as she set the cookies on the table. “Dig in!”  
Ten sets of hands reached towards the platter of cookies. In a matter of seconds, half of the platter was gone and the once loud chatter of the Weasley family had stopped. Charlie dipped his cookies in some milk. His eyes wide with a childlike sense of wonder. Bill kept his eyes on the remaining cookies and the people who dared grab at the last few remaining on the platter as if they were going to be snatched away from him at any moment.  
“I grabbed it first.” Fred glared at Percy from across the table. His freckled skin turning as red as the jumper he wore.  
“No you didn’t, my hands were on it first.” Percy snapped back.  
Molly reached in between the two of them and grabbed the cookie. She snapped the poor snowman straight down the middle before handing each child a half, “Now you can share him.”  
Percy sat back in his seat. His eyes filled with a fire to which Neville had never seen before from him. Fred settled back into his seat as well. He munched on the half of the cookie he had gotten. The redness of his anger fading away as fast as it had appeared on his face. George kept silent next to his twin while Ron whispered something into Hermione’s ear. She flushed a deep red. Her curly hair flicking into Ron’s face as she shook her head. Charlie placed a hand on Neville’s thigh. Neville jumped up at the new warmth on his thigh and turned his attention towards Charlie.  
“Do you like it here?” Charlie whispered.  
“Yes, I’m glad I’m here.”  
“Good. I was thinking that the chaos was going to scare you off.” Charlie reached out and took one of the last remaining chocolate chip cookies off of the platter.  
“Why would the chaos scare me off?”  
“Well, it’s not like you’ve been around that big of a family for much of your life. I thought all of the commotion would cause you to leave.”  
“I need the commotion. I’ve got to get used to it if I’m to teach at Hogwarts next year.”  
Charlie perked up, “You’re going to teach there? That’s amazing news. Have you told anyone else?”  
“No,” Neville shook his head. “Just you so far.”  
“This is cause for celebration.” Before Neville could protest, Charlie stood at his seat and clanged his spoon against his glass of milk. The room fell silent once more as they turned their attention to Charlie. “Neville here would like to make an announcement.”  
Neville sat frozen in his seat. His blood ran cold and his face filled with heat. “I-it’s not th-ha-that much of an ann-ann-announcement at all.”  
“Come on,” Charlie egged on. “Just tell them what you told me.”  
“I-well I…I got a position to teach under Professor Sprout at Hogwarts next year. After the school’s rebuilt.” Neville dropped his gaze to his lap with a soft smile.  
The room erupted into a cacophony of cheers. Charlie wrapped his arms around Neville and rocked him back and forth. Bill pat his shoulder with as much enthusiasm as he seemed he could muster. Fred almost broke the table leaping over it to give Neville a hug. Molly broke through three of her own children to hug Neville. Arthur offered a kind hearted pat on the back. Neville couldn’t tell where the rest of the congratulations came from but it took a few minutes for everyone to settle down and go back to their cookies.  
The crowd had now thinned out at the table to only a few people. Molly cleaned up the rest of the dishes left on the table and left them to clean in the sink with the enchanted scrubber and some hot water. The smile still hadn’t faded from her face. Neville brought himself into the kitchen with his hands folded in front of him. Molly nearly jumped out of her skin when she turned and faced Neville.  
“I didn’t mean to scare you Mrs. Weasley.” Molly held a hand to her chest and caught her breath. “I just wanted to know if Charlie and I could have some hot chocolate.”  
“Of course, dear.” Molly placed the last dish in the sink. “Just give me a few moments.”  
“We’ll be up in his room.” Neville turned on his heel and started to walk away. He stopped and turned back to face Molly. “Thank you.”  
“No problem dear.”  
Neville walked up the stairs to Charlie’s room. His feet careful not to trip on any of the random books and trinkets that littered the stairs. Charlie was right where Neville had left him. He was perched right near the windowsill with a quill in his hands and a piece of parchment secured on the windowsill with some tape. His hand absentmindedly traced the constellations that he saw in the night sky. Neville tapped on the doorframe. Charlie’s head snapped up to meet the noise.  
“Your mom is going to bring up some hot chocolate in a bit.” Neville slid into the room and took his place next to Charlie.  
“Thank you.” Charlie’s eyes scanned the sky once more. He dipped his quill into the inkwell and moved his pen against the paper once more.  
“Why are you looking at the sky?” Neville wrapped an arm around Charlie’s shoulder. He didn’t even flinch at the motion but rather leaned into it.  
“They say some of the first dragons came from the meteors that fell down in the prehistoric age. We’ve been looking to the stars lately to try and trace them back to space. There could still be dragons hiding out in meteors to this day.” Charlie smiled at the sky. “There’s supposed to be a meteor ready to crash down in Scotland in a few weeks so we’ll see if there’s a dragon in there.”  
Neville curled into Charlie’s shoulder. His head bounced every few seconds with Charlie’s movements. Neville’s eyes closed as Charlie unintentionally lulled him into a sense of security. Neville’s arm still rested on Charlie’s shoulder as Charlie continued to trace the stars on the parchment paper.  
“Do you think a dragon is going to be in there?” Neville mumbled into Charlie’s shoulder.  
“In where?”  
“The meteor. Do you think there is going to be a dragon in the meteor?”  
“Oh, I believe so. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that this meteor has a dragon inside of it. Muggles have done some scans on it and have found some odd heat signatures in the meteor which suggest that something is living inside of there.”  
Neville leaned into Charlie’s body once more. Both men rested there for a few moments.A soft knock from the doorway alerted Charlie and Neville to Molly’s presence. She carried a tray with two steaming cups of hot cocoa and a bowl fill of extra marshmallows. Neville stood up from his spot. The warmth of Charlie escaping him as he crossed the room towards Molly.  
“I didn’t mean to interrupt you two.” She handed the tray off to Neville. Her shoulders relaxing a bit.  
“You didn’t interrupt anything. We were just relaxing a bit.” Neville looked over his shoulder towards Charlie who was still slumped over the parchment. “Well, I’m relaxing. He’s drawing the stars.”  
“He really loves you, he normally never lets anyone into his room when he’s working.” A warm smile crossed Molly’s face as she folded her hands in front of her stomach.  
A blush creeped to Neville’s cheeks. He turned and set the tray down on Charlie’s messy desk, “We’re just really good friends, Mrs. Weasley.”  
“Friends don’t go on dates together like you do. Nor do they cuddle as close as you two.” Molly let our a deep breath. “Whatever you two are, it has been really good for Charlie. You’ve really brought him back to his family.”  
“Dragons are his family too.”  
“His human family.” Molly’s eyes filled with tears. “This is one of the first times he’s actually participated in Christmas since he was a child. I knew he always loved us but he never said a thing. He always had his nose up in the stars in some book. I was always worried about him. I thought he would never find someone who cared for him as much as I did. Not like everyone needs a soulmate or anything but, he’s my first baby, you know? All I wanted for him was someone nice and I think he found that someone special in you.”  
Molly wiped the fallen tears away from Neville’s cheeks. “Anyways, I should leave the two of you alone to just relax.”  
“Thank you for the kind words and the hot chocolate, Mrs. Weasley.”  
“Please, call me Molly. You’re family now.” Molly pulled away from Neville and shooed him back into the room. “Go back to your boyfriend.”  
“I prefer datemate,” Charlie called to his mom. “As does Neville.”  
“Ah, that’s such a nice term, datemate.” Molly smiled and wiped her own tears. “Well then, go back to Charlie then. Before your hot chocolate get’s too cold.”  
Neville picked up the tray and carried it to the windowsill. The two mugs of hot chocolate still steamed. He set the tray between the two of them. Charlie set aside his drawings with a smile. He took a mug and wrapped his arm around Neville, pulling him close to him once more. The warmth of the mug heated up Neville’s chest and the love from Charlie warmed his heart.  
“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable tonight in front of the others.” Charlie said after moments of silence. Neville turned his eyes up to meet Charlie as he took a sip of his hot chocolate then popped an extra marshmallow into his mouth. “I just wanted to celebrate my datemate’s accomplishments.”  
“It was just unexpected that’s all. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting you to even ask me here. It’s only been-”  
“Two years since we met. One and a half since we became friends and one since we began seeing each other as a step above friends.”  
“Lovers.” A hint of a smile touched Charlie’s cheeks as did Neville.  
“Lovers implies we have sex. We don’t have sex.” Charlie pointed out.  
“Well of course, but I think lovers should also imply that we’re romantically involved. At least, more romantically involved that normal friends.”  
“Because friends can love each other too.”  
Charlie smiled and took another sip of his hot chocolate. Neville lifted the mug up to his lips. The hot chocolate warm but not hot enough to burn his lips. The two fell into a comfortable silence once more. Neville picked up one of the drawings that Charlie had made of a Hungarian Horntail and traced over the lines. Neville had always admired how confidently he had drawn the dragon. Almost as if the dragon had been right in front of him and that he hadn’t drawn the dragon from memory.  
“Do you love me as much as the dragons?” Neville’s eyes lifted up to meet Charlie’s eyes. Charlie set down his mug and wiped the marshmallow dust off of his hands. His eyes drifted out to the stars though he didn’t seem to keen on answering the question. “Do you love me as much as the dragons?”  
“No…” Charlie’s answer was shaky as if he were unsure of his own answer. “I don’t know. I think? I’ve honestly never been able to answer that question as well as you think.”  
“Why?”  
“Because I can’t really differentiate between my passion for caring for dragons and my love for you and my family.”  
Neville tilted his head to the side, “How long have you been feeling this way, sunshine?”  
Charlie smiled at the nickname. “I think for awhile now. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I didn’t want anyone to feel unappreciated but it’s the same way I’m not sexually attracted to you, I don’t love you like mum loves dad. I do still love you though. Just not as…intensely. If that makes sense at all.”  
“That makes perfect sense. Do you think you might be aromantic as well as asexual?”  
“Yes,” Charlie said with the same shaky voice as he had when he answered no only a few moments earlier. “I’d like to keep exploring it though…”  
“And I will be by your side through it all.”

**Author's Note:**

> I swear to you if anyone wants to feed my Neville and Charlie addiction, please feed it.


End file.
